A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America
The theater at Orange was built in the early first century, somewhat later and much better preserved than the theater at Arles. Unlike the one at Arles, the seating area of the Orange theater is built into a natural hillside for support in the Greek manner, rather than freestanding, which is more common in Roman construction. Also, unlike Arles, most of the stage building at Orange is preserved--it stands to a height of almost 37 meters--though most of the decoration has been lost. (This wall is so impressive that Louis XIV called it "the fairest wall in my kingdom.") Originally, the stage facade, or scaenae frons, was decorated with three stories of marble columns arranged in projecting niches that framed statues of gods and members of the imperial family in the top two levels and at the bottom, three large doors through which the actors made entrance to the stage platform. In the third level central niche was a twice-life-size statue, probably of Emperor Augustus. The statue there now is restored. With so much in place, it is possible to get a good impression of what it must have been like to sit in the seats along with some 7,000 other spectators and watch one of the popular plays of the day. In fact, the theater houses an annual summer music festival now.
The theater was originally part of a larger complex. Excavations in the 1930s to the side of the theater have revealed an area, known as the Hemicycle, was apparently a sacred complex dedicated to the imperial cult (worship of the imperial family). It was common in both Greek and Roman times for theaters to be associated with temples.
© 2010 by the Archaeological Institute of America
archive.archaeology.org/onsite/provence/orange2.html
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